Disposal of trash has been an issue humans have had to deal with since the beginning of civilization. Often when trash became a problem, people would simply cover over the trash with dirt and build on top of the rubble. Countless plagues have been associated with improper refuse disposal and, although modern technology has helped society deal with waste disposal, the challenge remains to handle discarded items efficiently and safely.
Because of the world's expanding population, the age-old solution of burying trash is becoming less attractive for many reasons including limited space and contamination of the environment, to name a few. In an effort to help alleviate some of the problems associated with discards, recycling has been gaining in popularity. Although recycling helps both by reducing the overall amount of trash and by making more efficient use of natural resources, it generally requires more processing including separating different kinds of recyclable articles from the general refuse. Consumers often regard the extra effort and/or cost associated with recycling less than favorably.
Another consideration of modern trash disposal is that when an item is discarded, it often needs to be replaced. Generally, this requires a human operator to take action to ensure that the required item is replaced.
A trash disposal system is needed which can track the disposal of items and automatically reorder required items that have been discarded as well as help alleviate some of the perceived shortcomings of recycling.